The effort to feed a resistant eater a more nutritious and varied diet. What works, what doesn't.
I am a mother of two daughters, one (called H) who is an adventurous eater like her mom, and one (called E) who has autism, sensory processing disorder and is a "resistant eater". There is not a lot of information that I could find for resistant eating, so I decided to blog my culinary efforts with E.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Making E the A to Z - Meatballs and "Minnie"-strone

We are skipping ahead a few letters to M. I will circle back to those between H and M when I have chance to figure out something new and kid-friendly!I wasn't keen on doing meatballs. E has tried them before but was not all that interested. Until our last visit to my parents' in May. I did turkey meatballs and she ate them and asked for seconds. The very next day on Dr Oz (I swear I was watching only because my mom does and the gigantic TV is hard to avoid if you're hanging out in the living room) was a recipe for turkey meatballs that had carrots, celery, pine nuts and raisins mixed in. If I could get the kids to accept them, I could delight my own palate with a more sophisticated version and they would get some extra veggies in them without a struggle. Did they eat it? Nope, but they will both eat the plain and simple kind. The recipe is below the rest of the post for anyone who has a slightly more adventurous eater.The second M food we tried was minestrone, or as we are calling it "Minnie"-strone. Minnie as in Minnie Mouse. We watched an episode of the animated Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Minnie made 'minnie'strone. E asked if we could make it, so she helped me. Hubby teased me relentlessly about "you're making a recipe from a cartoon??" Yes, yes I am if it means she'll try it and perhaps even eat a whole bowl. E tells me, "Minnie said we had to put 2 onions, 6 medium potatoes, and 8 tomatoes in the blender and puree. Then add it to the 15-second fast cooker, and it'll be ready!" Since I knew it would take a little more than 15 seconds, I peeled and steamed the potatoes beforehand, and chopped the onions coarsely. Then we added them all to the food processor, and pureed it. We heated it in a saucepan for about 15 minutes. E then said, "It needs spices!", so we added 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. The general verdict was not good. The onion flavor overpowered everything else. E tried 2 bites and declared that maybe Minnie Mouse was not ready to be a chef. The best part of the minnie-strone for me was that E helped me buy the ingredients and 'supervised' the cooking when she normally has zero interest.

I now have about 8 cups of this stuff in my freezer. I think I can finagle it into some kind of pasta sauce, but definitely on the list of fails.

Combine the carrot, celery, and onion in a food processor, pulsing to make a fine-textured paste orpestata. Scrape the pestata into a large bowl, and add the turkey meat, eggs, oregano, parsley, bread crumbs, pine nuts, raisins and salt, mixing with your hands to combine well.

Roll the meat into golf-ball-sized balls, and place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. (You should get about 48 meatballs.) Bake the meatballs until browned all over, about 18 to 20 minutes. (They do not need to be entirely cooked through, because they will cook more in the sauce.)

Sauce

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Toss in the onion and sauté until it turns transparent, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon of the salt, bay leaves, and peperoncino. Let the peperoncino toast for a minute, then pour in the tomatoes. Slosh out the tomato cans and bowl with 4 cups hot water, add to the pot, and stir. Stir in the remaining teaspoon of salt, and bring the sauce to a simmer while the meatballs finish baking; simmer sauce about 10 minutes more.

When the meatballs have finished baking, gently add them to the sauce and return to a simmer. Simmer, shaking the pan periodically to move (but not break) the meatballs, until the sauce is thick and flavorful for about 1 1/2 hours.